It's been nearly three weeks since starting The Sugar Free Project, and I'm learning a lot.  Last week was particularly tricky, as I was faced with three days of work-related events, complete with food temptations.  Here are some tools that I found helpful:

1) Tell others about your goal.  About a week before the work events, I told our admin that I had gone back to a vegan, sugar-free diet, and offered to bring my own meals rather than rely on the caterer to provide my breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  She, in turn, offered to speak with the catering team and see what could be done.  We ended up somewhere in the middle: fresh fruit and tea was available at breakfast (in addition to the pastries, etc.) and vegan veggie sandwiches were offered at lunch, along with more fruit. I supplemented with snacks from home, which leads me to my next tip...

2) Don't leave home unprepared.  If you're with a group of friends or colleagues, it's entirely possible that you may end up at a bar or restaurant with absolutely nothing you're able to eat.  I've learned to stock my purse with a couple of "just in case" items -- usually a bottle of water, a bar of some sort, a piece of fruit, and maybe a small bag of nuts.  Some days I don't need to break out my reserves, but it's good to have them, just in case.

3) It gets better.  No, seriously.  The first week I had to turn down a platter of cookies in the office, it took superhuman strength.  But by last Friday, when confronted with a dessert tray, I just sort of shrugged and reached for the grapes (which were probably just meant to be decorative).  Don't get me wrong -- I still wanted the cookies and brownies.  But it wasn't nearly so hard to turn them down.

4) Make your own desserts.  Over on my sidebar, there are links to several healthy blogs.  In particular, Chocolate Covered Katie is a genius when it comes to healthy, sugar-free substitutions for beloved favorites.  Making these healthy desserts and having them waiting for me at home helps a lot -- even if they don't taste exactly like the real thing, they're close enough.  It's all about retraining your taste buds.

Like anything, giving up sugar is a process.  I'm finding that these tips and tricks are helping me get further down the path.